Lately, I’ve come to see my morning quiet time in my mustard recliner as a morning coffee with dear friends. Piled around me, all in rich conversation, I sit with King David, the prophet Isaiah, the disciple Matthew, Andrew Murray, Hannah Whitall Smith, prayer theologian Wesley Duewel, and Michael Reeves. Sometimes, I invite Spurgeon or A. W. Tozer to the gathering. Sometimes Henri Nouwen. Of course, Jesus sits at the most important guest.
It’s a wisdom gathering as I journal thoughts and prayers for the day and record bits of wisdom from paragraphs I read. It’s like a meeting of great minds, and I witness it all.
My mentor once told me that books discipled her. If you find you need insight or a circle of friends to help you move through life, it’s not a bad idea to include some authors in the form of pastors and theologians into the mix. Sure, you’ll never get an in-person meeting in this lifetime, but you can take an hour with Spurgeon through his wise words. I feel like I’m with the old British preacher as I read a sermon.
That’s also why I treasure God’s kindness in allowing me to write devotional literature. I often receive messages from people I will never meet on earth, often from far away lands, who tell me they feel like we’ve been sitting across from one another in a coffee shop as they’ve read Seated with Christ. What a marvelous thing to pour your life out onto a page and have a reader experience a mysterious fellowship with you. I’m here; you’re there. And yet.